Main news for 8 November 2010

If we had to express a similar thought, we would hardly construct the phrase this way. We would have said: "Her many sins are forgiven because she loved much, and one who loves little is forgiven little." And everything would be clear and unambiguous. How much deeper is what Jesus says.

First, His phrase prompts the thought: "If I feel that little is being forgiven me, then this means, evidently, that I love little." That is, if I consider my sins small, this is simply because I lack love for God.

And second, something greater appears here. A forgiven person becomes capable of greater love; greater love opens the way to greater forgiveness; and from there to still greater love, and so on, and so on. What we normally perceive as an act of forgiveness is known as a process that grows love in us.